UCL diary notice: Future Fossils

Publication date:
Jan 18, 2007 11:09:02 AM

How everyday objects like TV remote controls and Lego would look in millions of years if they were fossilised is the subject of a unique exhibition at the Grant Museum of Zoology, UCL (University College London).

Working with the artist Mervine, the exhibition ‘Future Fossils’ fuses art with science to challenge the legacy of modern life that will be laid down in future fossil records – and raise questions about the state of the planet in an imaginative and thought-provoking way.

Mervine, the sculptor behind the exhibition, says: “Signs of humanity in today’s world are all but inescapable, but what of our world will remain in 100 million years?

“We may know a lot about the animals of the prehistoric era, but this is based on relatively little information. Dinosaurs roamed the earth for 160 million years yet barely 60 complete skeletons are known. We have achieved what we know now by determined and diligent study of the only things we have to go by – fossils. How will it be for scientists of the future? The clues humans will leave could prove to be more endurable and much more plentiful. We are leaving an immense amount of stuff for them to work on. Will they even have science? Will they figure it all out only to have their religious leaders tell them that their truth is false? The questions and possibilities are endless.”

The Grant Museum’s Comparative Learning & Access Manager, Jack Ashby, added: “The Museum is a brilliant setting for such an innovative exhibition. Set amongst our skeletons, fossils and jars, the sculptures look completely at home. They are incredibly authentic and could fool most palaeontologists into thinking they are genuine fossils. I can imagine them in museums millions of years in the future.”

Founded in 1827, the Grant Museum of Zoology retains the air of the avid Victorian collector, containing cases packed full of skeletons, mounted animals and specimens preserved in fluid. The museum also houses many rare and extinct animals, including the Tasmanian tiger or thylacine, the quagga and the dodo.